ASUU Drags Kogi Govt to Court over Proscription

Yekini Jimoh in Lokoja

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Kogi State University, Anyigba chapter, has dragged the state government to court to seek redress of these contentious issues: the proscription of ASUU KSU, Anyigba and the termination of the appointment of 120 academic staff members of the institution.

The acting Chairman of the union, Dr. Aina Daniel, who disclosed this during at press conference in Lokoja, said the state government, the governing council and management of the university have taken steps which violate the members’ fundamental human rights and flouted the rules and regulations governing their contractual intercourse with the university.

“We thought it is common knowledge that proscription of a trade union is beyond the jurisprudence of an executive governor.”

He said it is pathetic and unfortunate that taking a cursory look at the list of the purportedly sacked lecturers, identifying the courses they teach, the reallocation of such courses and identifying those who are assigned to teach those courses, it is crystal clear that the “one ready to kill has met the one ready to die” while not knowing that there is no one to bury.

He pointed out that the institution has degenerated almost beyond the pre-2005 era as unethical practices are done with imminent colossal damage in an effort to create the impression that all is well within the system.

“Unqualified persons, technologists, members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and other non-teaching staff are being co-opted to teach courses and supervise students’ projects.
“In several departments, postgraduate programmes have folded up completely and where they seem to exist, they are being handled by unqualified persons; where a number of PhD and master’s degree students did their external defences without the knowledge of their major supervisors.

“Also, completed undergraduate projects hitherto supervised by the purportedly sacked lecturers were re-assigned and graded by lecturers who never took part in the supervision; in some instances, the names of the original supervisors were fraudulently removed and replaced with those who were not part of the supervision process,” he stated.

Aina added that in some cases, some lecturers reportedly instruct students to browse and download lecture materials without teaching in readiness for their end of semester examinations.
“There are so many courses still left untaught and this cut across almost all the departments with far reaching implications on the quality of the university degrees.

“Our members are faced with being killed without recourse to justice, harassed, maimed or kidnapped. The quiet resolve of 120 men and women of integrity is capable of doing the job- to build the KSU, Anyigba of our dream.”